The Magic School Bus Explores in the Age of Dinosaurs
''The Magic School Bus Explores in the Age of Dinosaurs ''(or simply The Magic School Bus: Dinosaurs')''' 'is the fifth installment in ''The Magic School Bus series of PC games, released in late 1996 for Windows and Macintosh. Summary Ms. Frizzle has a photo album featuring dinosaurs, but she is missing three photos from her album. The class travel millions of years back in time to the age of dinosaurs to take some new photos to compensate for the ones she lost. At random, the player is given one of three different albums: Plant-Eating Dinosaurs (herbivores), Meat-Eating Dinosaurs (carnivores), and Reptiles That Aren't Dinosaurs (reptiles besides dinosaurs, hence the album name). Each album once given has clues on each page to identify the dinosaur and the exact location. Once the photo of the correct dinosaur is taken, the player will move on to keep searching for more dinosaurs to photograph. Once the album is completed, the player will be awarded a dinosaur face mask to print and cut out. Eras Now The present time setting. This is also when the classroom is visited. The only way back to this era is to click on the red lever next to the Time Machine. Ironically, the red lever can even be used when the player is already in the Now era, though it's not necessary to do so. Triassic Period Set 220M years before the present, this is the earliest era of dinosaurs. The two locations are in Arizona and Argentina. The Bus takes the form of Coelophysis. Jurassic Period Set 150M years before the present, this is the middle era of dinosaurs. This is the only era with three locations which are in Colorado, Tanzania, and Tethys Sea, and the only era with an underwater location. The Bus takes on the form of Stegosaurus. Cretaceous Period Set 70M years before the present, this is the late era of dinosaurs before they faced extinction. The two locations are in Alberta and Mongolia. The Bus takes on the form of Pteranodon. Trivia * Occasionally, the Time Machine will malfunction and will take the player to one of two different cutscenes (both set in the Cretaceous Period). The first one, the Tyrannosaurus appears to chew the Bus, only for the "X" signs to fall out. The latter, it is set where meteors shower down where the dinosaurs face extinction. * Ironically, the game "Meteor Meltdown" is set in the Jurassic Period, yet the Jurassic Period follows the Triassic Period and precedes the Cretaceous Period where the dinosaurs became extinct after that era. * The music accompaniment for the game "Meteor Meltdown" is similar to that of "Stop the Lava" from the previous game The Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth. * This is the last game where Arnold sits on the front of bus in the game's cover artwork. * While exploring outside in Jurassic Colorado, Phoebe and Carlos are shown to debate over Apatosaurus's name, in which Phoebe refers it to Apatosaurus which is current, while Carlos refers to it as the popular but archaic Brontosaurus. * Phoebe announces arrival in Jurassic Colorado and Cretaceous Alberta. In the cutscenes where she announces the arrivals, she is wearing a red vest over her yellow shirt while announcing in Jurassic Colorado, but while announcing in Cretaceous Alberta, she isn't wearing the vest. * The classroom music is the same as the previous game The Magic School Bus Explores Inside the Earth, but was revised with extra rhythm in the middle of the song. The same classroom music from this game was used once again in the next game The Magic School Bus Explores the Rainforest. * When Ms. Frizzle says "Today we're not just going somewhere, we're going somewhen", she states that the place they're going is just through a time machine on the bus so they can explore dinosaurs in the eras they once existed in. * Occasionally, a dragonfly will appear when the player highlights the door while in the driver's seat area. Category:Video games Category:1996